Presenter: Jim Brown, B.Sc., M.Sc., PhD., Senior Fellow Director in Computational Biology, GlaxoSmithKline, Collegeville, PA
Title: Human-Microbe Interactions in Drug Discovery
Abstract: Traditionally, infectious pathogens and chronic diseases, such as COPD or metabolic diseases, have been separate research disciplines. However, recent advances in genomics and bioinformatics are rapidly opening a deeper dialogue between these fields. The human body supports dynamic and complex ecosystems of microbiota across different body sites, such as the gut and lung. Understanding the diversity of the microbiome in human populations and its role in human health could provide new therapeutic paradigms for many chronic diseases. In addition, high throughput genomics platforms are providing new insights into the inter play between human and pathogens – the so-called host-pathogen interactome. This presentation will discuss the opportunities and challenges in translating both the microbiome and interactome from basic science into clinical therapies using specific examples from our drug discovery efforts in infectious, metabolic and respiratory diseases.
Date: Thursday, June 22
Time: 11:00 am
Place: 195 Farmington Avenue, 3rd Floor Conference Room U3071 A/B
Host: Reinhard Laubenbacher, Ph.D.
For more information, contact: Jane Tran Sills/Center for Quantitative Medicine at 860-679-4799/transills@uchc.edu